


Floating

by Say_it_aint_so



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, tag for 1.06
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-06
Updated: 2013-11-06
Packaged: 2017-12-31 16:04:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1033622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Say_it_aint_so/pseuds/Say_it_aint_so
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tag for 1.06. The missing scenes where Ward and Simmons are in the water and get rescued.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Floating

She’s unconscious when they hit the water. Ward isn’t surprised. If he’d had an electrical storm in his brain, he’d be unconscious too. He unbuckles the parachute and slides his arms out of the straps one at a time, one arm holding the unconscious scientist against his chest. The roar in his ears begins to subside and he can hear Fitz screaming. He can’t discern the words. They’re probably not words. Ward doesn’t think there are words for when you think that your other half is dead. 

He taps his ear, activating the commlink. “Simmons is alive.” He gasps, kicking his legs harder to rise above the ocean chop. “You did it Fitz.”

“Technically she did it but she’s okay?” 

Wards fingers wrap around her wrist. “She’s breathing and her pulse is steady. She’s unconscious.”

“We’re sending in an evac team to come and get you.” May’s voice cuts into the commlink. Ward thinks he can hear the relief in her voice. “ETA is 30 minutes. Can you hang on for that long?”

“Do I have a choice?” He accidentally swallows a mouthful of seawater and coughs. 

“No.” Coulson’s tone is unemotional. “That’s what you get when you disobey orders.”

“You would know sir.” He leans back into the water, half floating in the water, half treading. He pulls Simmons up so she’s on top of him, arm securing her. Her nose presses against his cheek and he can feel her breaths on his cheek. It’s reassuring. Ward looks up and he can see a large black shadow in the sky. The team hasn’t left them. That’s even more reassuring. 

“You don’t know the half of it.” Coulson sounds bemused. Ward pictures him pacing the situation room. 

“But she’s gonna be okay, right?” Skye sounds panicked. It’s probably the closest she’s ever come to losing someone she cares about. He wonders if he should cut her some slack after this. Simmons nearly dying would be enough to show her that they need to trust each other in order to survive. 

“Of course she is.” Fitz’s confident tone sounds fake to all of them but none of them will ever call him out on it. “All that exposure to biohazards has strengthened her immune system. I go near half of her stuff and I end up in bed for a week.”  
Skye and Fitz begin in bicker, both filling the silence they’re clearly uncomfortable with. Ward floats staring up at the plane hovering above him and Simmons, wondering when he became so comfortable with these people. May updates him on the evac team every five minutes. It’s almost relaxing. His heart rate comes down and his breathing comes back to normal. His adrenaline rush is over.  
Simmons starts to move, struggling against him. 

“Shh, don’t move. Everything’s okay. Your vaccine worked.” 

She stops moving, turns her head slowly and looks at him with unfocused eyes. “Anti-serum. Why can no one say anti-serum?” Her words are slightly slurred, like she’s dazed.

“Anti-serum.” He repeats and she chuckles then starts coughing. “You okay?”

“Swallowed some sea water.” She nods and inhales deeply. He can see emotions flicker across her face like pages turning in a book. 

“You okay?”

Simmons inhales again and lets it out slowly. “I’m alive.” 

“Yes.” He smiles. “Your anti-serum worked. You really are as smart as Fitz says.”

“He exaggerates.” Her eyes flutter closed again. 

“Not in this case.” Ward says then chuckles. 

Simmons opens her eyes. “What is it?”

“You took out your commlink, didn’t you?” At her nod, he continues. “Fitz is trying to talk to you. He says now that you’ve fulfilled your dream of being the little mermaid, he wants his monkey.”

Simmons smiles. “He can ask Coulson.”

“Coulson says no.” Ward declares after hearing some terse words from their boss. “Apparently scientists are hard enough to wrangle.”

“I won’t disagree with that hypothesis.”

The faint roar of a boat engine gets stronger and they’re rescued soon after. 

 

*/*/*

 

An hour later, Jemma’s sitting up in a field infirmary bed, watching Ward pace the small room. “You don’t have to stay here, you can go work off that adrenaline.”

He turns and looks at her pale face and red eyes. “I’m staying.”

“Then can you please stop pacing like a lion that’s about to attack? You’re making me nervous.” She pulls at the sleeves of the borrowed hospital scrubs she wears. 

He acquiesces, sitting on the edge of the bed. Coulson had given him direct orders not to leave her alone. Fitz had promised him all the snacks on board if he didn’t leave her side. He wouldn’t have left even if they hadn’t done that. No one should be alone after nearly dying. He’d done it enough times to know that it sucks. His foot taps out a rhythm on the linoleum floor. 

Simmons leans back into the pillows. Her movements are slow, like she’s in pain but she hasn’t complained in front of him. Her eyes track his bouncing knee. “You don’t like sitting still, do you?”  
“Not really.” He consciously made his foot stop moving. “Not used to it.”

“Sorry.”

“Not your fault.”

“I meant sorry you’re stuck in here with me.”

“Again, not your fault.” He waited until she looked at him to continue. “I just like jumping out of perfectly good aeroplanes for no good reason. It’s even better when I do have a reason.” He smiles as he tries to make light of the situation. It’s the only way to cope sometimes. 

She smiles, eyes lighting up. “Well then, I’m glad I could help.” 

There’s a knock on the door and it opens. May walks in and tosses two small duffel bags on the side of the bed Ward isn’t sitting on. “You’re cleared to go.”

“I’m going to be alright?”

May smiles slightly and nods. “Right as rain. Coulson wants to see you both when we get back to the bus. Wheels up in 15 minutes so hurry.” She walks out. 

“See you on the short bus.” Ward picks up his worn duffel bag and stands. He can’t wait to be out of the borrowed scrubs. He thinks the Moroccan office gave him clothes two sizes too small on purpose. 

“Yeah.” She sits up and grabs her bag. “And Grant,” She adds just before he gets to the door. “Thank you.” She doesn’t elaborate but he knows what she means. Thank you for saving me.

He smiles. “Anytime.”


End file.
